Hello and welcome back to the Saturday Sanddancer Scene, where members of Curly’s Corner Shop Message Board compete to have their photographs published here, this time around I asked members to submit portraits, and we had a wide and varied selection of entries. The winning entry comes from Dave Smith, a former South Shields man, now living in Chester-le-Street, Dave has an Italian wife and this wonderful charming picture was taken during one of his many family trips to the hills of Italy.

Antonio Marra was 84 years young when this picture was taken, he is a former police officer and the picture was shot in his house in Taurisano in the Lecce region of Italy, the part which we commonly refer to as “the heel”. Antonio is allowed to enjoy a single glass of wine per day and he was relishing this one after lunch on a rather dull afternoon when the light levels were receding somewhat. Dave tells me that Antonio is now over 87 years of age and is still as sprightly and lively as ever!

Dave has an avid interest in photography, is a Photoshop user, and is always looking for those ways to improve his art, this shot was taken on his Canon 400d using the kit 18-55mm lens, he used bounced flash from the Canon Speedlite 580 Ex ll. The exposure was 1/60 sec. at f5.6, and the iso speed as 400. I think you will agree this is a magnificent portrait full of genial warmth, which puts the viewer firmly in the picture, I can easily imagine a conversation with Antonio.

This month I set the members of Curly’s Corner Shop Message Board a new theme for their regular photography competition, it was nice and simple “GREEN”, and of the pictures submitted this was the one that I chose to show here . I chose it because the overall tones and hues in the image are all uniformly green, I instantly thought of green apples, and the fruits were particularly seasonal just before we lose our greens and collect our browns and reds!

This was submitted by Stottie Cake again who has now been chosen on two consecutive events, so congratulations to this South Shields woman who is green fingered and enjoys her gardening. This is a picture of her “Quince” bush as it fruits towards the end of summer. According to Wiki[edia the fruit changes colour to a yellow in autumn and becomes pear shaped, you learn something new every day!

Hi and welcome to the latest publication of our series of pictures made or created by the members of Curly’s Cornershop Message Board, the most active forum on Tyneside with over 241000 posts!

Today’s winner of my photography challenge comes from South Shields woman “Stottiecake” who produced this colourful and creative picture following her shopping experience in South Shields, she told me:

I was thrilled that you picked mine this month and it seems very unfair to the rest of your customers who sent in splendid work.

I had been out shopping in Boldon Lane that morning and had unpacked my bags at the kitchen table. I was alone, pottering about making lunch and with it being a fine day my sunglasses were nearby so I tried them on the pineapple just for my own amusement. I was amused too! I thought of Curly’s Shop and put a black handtowel on the table, lying the fruit down, back on with the sunglasses, add one chilli for a smile and a cute button mushroom nose. A green apple for colour and Voila!

I keep my Samsung E565 compact camera in my handbag most of the time so I took a couple of snaps and put one in your shop. I enjoy looking at the photographs posted there and like to join in also.

I have lived in South Shields almost 50 years (born in Whiteleas) I met my husband 30 years ago this month and we have been married for 25 years. We have 2 grown up children and now live near the Nook.

Hello and welcome back to the feature where members of Curly’s Corner Shop Message Board contribute to this page, and last month I tasked them with supplying their favourite family holiday picture, and this month’s winner came all the way from China!

Andy is an ex-pat Sanddancer originally from Simonside in South Shields, the ex Royal Navy man is now settled in Australia where he is a regional operational manager for a very large retailer. Andy travelled from Queensland to China for his holiday this year to visit family and friends and this is what took his kith and kin to the brewery. I’ve met Andy a few times and despite spending over twenty years in Australia he still retains his authentic Geordie accent and is firmly tied to his roots here in South Shields. Andy told me:

The Germans built the brewery during their occupation of Qingdao, and the Japanese changed the name to Tsingtao during their time of occupation. It is in the suburb of Beer Street and is well worth a trip if you are ever visiting Qingdao. Qingdao hosted the sailing events during the Beijing 2008 Olympics and it is a city with over 10 million inhabitants.

I just used a little Canon pocket camera set on the self timer to take the shot.

This is the latest offering from the members of Curly’s Corner Shop Message Board after a photo competition with an unusual theme. I had challenged them to produce three pictures taken in three separate rooms of the house with some sort of direct linked theme to them, not an easy task! The forum is now one of the busiest and best populated on Tyneside with over 233000 posts!

This was was the winning entry from “Rosy” one of our regular contributors from Australia, she was delighted that her picture was chosen to feature here, Rosie told me:

I live in Queensland, I’m a great-grandma and I feel the cold when the winter months come along. I enjoy messing around with Paint Shop Pro and I just happened to buy the pink slippers (which actually are falling to pieces already) when you first posted the criteria for the competition I thought I would have a bit of fun and see what I could come up with. My PSP is an old version and since I put it on my new computer I haven’t added any plug-ins apart from Redfields which I used for the water ripples. The three photos were taken in my kitchen, bathroom and computer room which I think speak for themselves.

Hello and welcome to our latest winner from entries submitted by members of Curly’s Corner Shop Message Board, last month we had an “open competition” without a theme and this is the shot chosen to be published here today, I don’t think we’ve ever chosen a portrait before and I think you will find this one a very pleasant change.

This is South Shields’ girl Lauren Fada and the picture was submitted by her mother Audrey, Lauren had arranged a special day out in South Shields for her mother’s birthday on the day this was taken and had gone to the trouble of decorating the house with balloons and garlands as well as organising a huge buffet to be enjoyed by her mother’s friends and relations before they all carried on the celebrations in our town centre on the evening.

Audrey Fada tells me that she had one of the best days of her life after the effort that Lauren had put in to make it enjoyable, and that she had made it a very special day for her to remember. The tow of them are still “buzzing” after winning the competition and she’s really proud of the fact that her snap of Lauren was chosen.